Yes, A Database is Smart.
But implementations can be dumb, panicky animals, and you know it (yes, that movie)
The current buzz about SmartDB is correct:
Most applications use a database, and a good application can and should utilise the
capabilities of that database where possible.
And there is room for Improvement.

Moving to the cloud is still a hot topic these days, and one of the challenges of these migrations is dealing with the databases, that too need to be “cloudified”. Sometimes it means changing the flavor of the RDBMS, and sometimes it also means tight downtime windows for the move itself.